Wednesday, 5 September 2012

Raw broccoli salad and other eats

I have been revisiting lots of old recipes lately. I wasn't going to post any recipes tonight. I made an attempt at a raw broccoli salad today. At first it seemed all wrong. I tweaked it. I ate it all up. Not as good as some of the other food I have been making lately but good enough to blog. Maybe I will return to it and tweak it further.

At first I was so disenchanted with the salad that I added it to a peanut butter sandwich. It was very good. Then I added nutritional yeast flakes because it was just too sour with the lime. I think that helped. I perhaps should have added some of my Australian bush pepper spice mix. It remains hidden in the cupboard and I constantly forget about it.

It only occurred to me halfway through eating the salad that maybe I should take a photo. It was during the chaos that is dinner time. Well I was making dinner, talking to my neighbour, and trying to get Sylvia to eat. Once dinner is served, it is amazing what she will discover in her little bags, or decide is a reasonable alternative to dinner (chocolate, marshmallows etc) or how she morphs into a baby cat.

I am trying to eat more vegetables at lunch time. I used to eat really well at lunchtimes at work before Sylvia was born. I thought the old habits would return once I was back at work but I haven't been able to be so organised. A little effort is required. I have been taking sticks of carrots, capsicum and cucumber to munch on. I find them pleasing. Now that Spring is here, I am seeking some easy salads I can take to work. I thought this might be one but the flavours needs some work. It was quite good to snack on during the afternoon rather than cake.

Which brings me to other eats. I thought I might just tell you about a few other foods I have made lately.

Citrus grape cake (pictured top) - Sylvia says that Dolly wants a grape cake for her birthday. Her wish is my command! (I even bought grapes out of season.) I looked up a citrus grape cake I had made years ago. Strangely enough it was the first cake I baked after Sylvia was born. Coincidence? This is a fantastic cake that I highly recommend if your doll wants you to bake with grapes.

Chickpea, potato and tomato stew - This has to be one of my favourite stews at the moment. I made it again tonight with green beans and split peas. I soaked the split peas but after 90 minutes of cooking they were still not softening. Perhaps I had a dud batch of dried split peas.

Mock tuna (chickpea) salad - A current favourite salad. It is so easy to make and has ingredients I usually have about. At this time of year I am far less likely to have spring onions and mayonnaise about but the salad is great without them. This is one of my salads I have earmarked as an easy one to make ahead and pack for lunch at work to help me eat more vegies.Pasta with pesto and feta (pictured above) - not really a recipe. I meant to make the chickpea stew last night but ran out of time. Instead I made pasta with pesto, fried some onions, zucchini and cherry tomatoes and topped it all with feta. It would have been quick if I had noticed the gas burner going out under the pasta! D'oh!

Our favourite smoothie - Around the end of winter I lose interest in fresh fruit as I hold my breath waiting for summer fruit to appear. In lieu of fresh fruit, Sylvia and I have been drinking a lot of smoothies recently. Our favourite combination is stewed plums, frozen raspberries, banana, oats, chia seeds and soy milk.

That will do for now. If you are in Melbourne, I hope you are holding on to your hat in this wind. I could hear it howling around the house tonight. Winter isn't quite ready to let us go yet.

This post had me smiling from start to finish :) The baby cat at the dinner table, dolly's cake, the salad in a peanut butter sandwich...all very good things Johanna! I think I share dolly's taste in cake and I also share your taste in stew, smoothies, and the flavours in this salad.

Thanks Mel - I love some vegetables raw (capsicum, carrot and cucumber) but I think I prefer most cooked - raw always seems virtuous but a bit of a challenge - I made this salad to try and have a go at the raw sort of salads I see about

Thanks Joanne - unfortunately I am so much more in a mood to bake cakes now than in summer when there is all that wonderful fruit about - so perhaps this is why I gave in to out of season grapes - as well as pester power :-)

If giving in to grapes is as weak as you get, take a bow! I get pestered a lot for grapes too - weird, isn't it? Perhaps we should pat ourselves on the back that our kids don't pester us for lollies at the supermarket (well, mine does, very half-heartedly), but I am incredibly staunch about saying no. As for the broccoli salad, I'll happily eat raw stalks while I'm getting ready to cook them, but a whole dish of it. Hmmmm, I'm not so sure. I do feel in need of more veges though, perhaps I should give it a go...

Thanks Lucy - Sylvia is rather fond of requesting a lollypop in the strongest terms but I agree that I am more likely to cave in to a request for grapes. I am still a bit unsure about this broccoli salad but enjoyed it enough to want to experiment further

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Recipes and reflections in which our vegetarian heroine dreams of being tall and graceful as a giraffe; being a goddess in the kitchen; and being gladdened by green gadgets, green food and green politics because green is the colour of hope. See About Me for more info.